Coaching

Imagine you’re facing a speaking opportunity. Chances are you don’t fancy it. Most of us find speaking before a crowd a little intimidating. One way to deal with this would be to read from a script. But while that will ensure against mistakes, it will also insulate you from your audience. While you read, you can’t be looking at them, and without eye contact there’s no emotional connection. So look your audience in the eye. Better yet, start doing so before you face them. That’s right - visualize your audience as you prepare your speech.

Visualizing will do two things. First, it will dispel your intimidation. Most of the things that scare us do so because we don’t know them well. Visualizing means becoming familiar, and that makes fear die down. Second, visualizing means practising looking your audience in the eye, thus creating emotional contact. Write your speech in longhand, but don’t take your notes with you, using them only as a base on which to practice. Read your speech out aloud and see if it comes out smoothly. If you stumble in a sentence, it’s probably a good idea to rephrase it. Use key messages wherever you can. They can be the frame on which you hang the rest of the speech. When your words come out right, picture your audience and try to touch their hearts. And if all this sounds as if it might take too long, then consider hiring a media coach to help you with a concentrated preparation.